Ionity boss on how the charging operator JV leverages collaborations

Ionity, a joint venture of BMW Group, Mercedes-Benz, Ford Motor and Volkswagen Group, was founded in 2017 with the goal of building and operating a high-power charging network along major European highways.
 
The company’s mission is to address two of the issues that have slowed widespread acceptance of electric vehicles: charging station availability and range anxiety. As of April 28, Ionity was operating 226 stations in 20 countries, with 49 more expected to come online shortly. The stations are situated every 120 to 150 km.
 
From the start, Ionity has been a collaborative effort: CEO Michael Hajesch says this has been the key to Ionity achieving a “fast, safe and sustainable go-to-market strategy on a European level.” And it has also been crucial to achieving customer satisfaction -- making it easier for automakers to sell electric vehicles and for customers to own them.

Hajesch breaks down Ionity’s collaborations into several levels.:

• Site partner collaboration: Service station and rest stop operators working with Ionity include Shell, Circle K and ENI. That means Ionity stations will be placed in convenient and attractive locations that provide additional services on site.
• Technology collaboration: Ionity’s latest high-power charger, shown at the 2019 Frankfurt auto show, includes 350 kilowatt charging power, a user-friendly screen available in many EU languages and four to six charging ports.

Ionity and its collaborators are part of what Hajesch calls the e-mobility ecosystem, in which includes automakers, charge-point operators such as Ionity, mobility providers such as short-term rentals, and providers for billing, payment and navigation.

Collaboration can improve customer satisfaction through joint interoperability testing — working together to make sure all these diverse elements work together before the system is put on the market, Hajesch says.

Editor's note: Michael Hajesch was scheduled to speak at the Vienna Motor Symposium as part of a session titled “Cross-Company Cooperations” co-hosted by Automotive News Europe. The symposium became a virtual event because of the coronavirus outbreak.